


Backlash

by AboveTheRoses



Series: Crash and Burn [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Abuse, F/M, Gay, Hershey Bears, Love Confessions, Love Triangles, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Mild Sexual Content, Russian Mafia, Sexual Orientation, Washington Capitals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-05 22:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5393207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AboveTheRoses/pseuds/AboveTheRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Alex's coming out announcement, things start to unravel for him and the whole team. With Dmitry's fiance getting caught in the middle, Dmitry vows to take action to set things straight, no matter what the cost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Italics usage denotes the speaking of a different language rather than making the reader look up the foreign language text. (the character speaking would then determine the language)

                “You know I really appreciate you guys letting me crash at your place.”

                Tom looked up from his plate of food and stared across the table at the man sitting across from him.

                “You didn’t have to skip out on Christmas for my sake either.”

                Tom swallowed his mouthful and shook his head. “Nate don’t worry about it. My folks aren’t that far away and they visit a lot. If you can’t go home then I’m happy to stay here and keep you company. No one should spend Christmas alone.”

                The defensemen smiled. “I appreciate that Tom. I’m glad you and Lats didn’t mind me intruding in on your little bromance.” He chuckled. “Don’t worry though, I’ll try to find my own place since coach said I’ll be sticking around for a while. “

                Tom watched as Schmidt got to his feet to deposit his plate in the sink. He frowned at Nate’s comment but tried to not let the other see it. The defensemen had been staying with the line men for nearly the whole season since he had been called up from Hershey. But since having him in the house… Tom couldn’t help the odd feelings he’d have.

                “So um, why didn’t you go home for Christmas anyway?” Tom got to his feet to put the dishes from their Christmas dinner away.

                The blonde turned and looked at the younger hockey player. “You really want to know?”

                Tom nodded.

                “You positive?”

                “Well yeah. That’s why I asked.”

                Nate ran a hand through his unruly hair. “Well… after Ovi’s big announcement, I went home and came out to my parents.” He folded his arms across his chest as he leaned back against the counter. His blue eyes looking at Tom for some kind of reaction. “Figured it was time they knew. They weren’t exactly happy though.”

                Tom just kind of stared at the man standing next to him. That wasn’t exactly the kind of reason he had been expecting. “Oh… I uh… I guess that makes sense.” Tom rubbed his arm. “So uh, you seeing anyone?”

                Nate chuckled. “No. It’s kind of hard to meet guys when I spend all my time with the team. And as far as I know Ovi is the only one that swings my way… besides being spoken for already, he isn’t exactly my type.” His goofy grin got a bit wider.

                That got Tom to smile. “So if the Captain isn’t your type, what is your type?” This conversation was taking a turn for the interesting.

                Nate raised an eyebrow and turned a bit to face his teammate. “Honestly… probably someone like you.”

                It wasn’t easy to make Tom blush, but Nate had accomplished just that.

                “Sorry… that was probably a bit much.” Nate looked away a bit bashfully and started to head towards the living room.

                “Wait Nate!” Tom reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. “Don’t be sorry.”

                Nate looked down to where Tom was still holding onto him. “I don’t understand. You don’t feel that way so I shouldn’t have even said anything.” He kept his eyes down, clearly embarrassed by the admission now.

                Without a word Tom grabbed the side of Nate’s face and pulled him into a hard kiss. It was a bit sloppy, Tom had never kissed another man before but every fiber of his being was telling him to. Nate let out a startled sound before he realized what was happening and then he melted into the lineman.

                Tom broke the kiss to catch his breath and Nate just smiled up at him. “Well… this Christmas just got a hell of a lot better.”

                The other man laughed. “Yeah well…” He rubbed the back of his head a bit nervously. “I haven’t ever don’t that before.”

                Nate looked at him, their hands still together. “What? Kissed a guy?”

                Tom nodded.

                “Practice makes perfect.” Nate reached over and pulled his roommate back to his lips again.

                But this kiss was cut short when Tom’s cell phone started buzzing in his front pocket, the small object pressed between the two men.

                Tom jerked away a bit involuntarily. “That can ruin a moment.” He muttered as he reached into his pocket. He was about to just chuck the phone on the table and continue this new make out session when he looked at the number. “Holtby? What’s he want? He never calls…” Tom was reluctant to pull away from Nate, finding more comfort than he thought possible in the other mans touch. Instead he put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

                “Willy?”

                “Hey Holtby, what’s up?” Tom asked, the goaltender didn’t seem his normal cocky self.

                “Tom… there’s been a shooting.”

                “A what?” Tom’s eyes met Nate’s as he felt his heart almost stop.

                “At Ovechkin’s. There was a shooting. I don’t know any details… a bunch of us are heading to the hospital now to see what’s happened.”

                Tom hung up the phone and looked at Nate.

                “Tom?” Nate’s brow furrowed. “Tom what’s wrong?” He hesitated before reaching out and grabbing Tom’s hand. Sure they had just been making out but they weren’t dating or anything.

                “Someone just shot up Ovi’s house. They are at the hospital. Holts didn’t say much but clearly someone is hurt.”

                “We should go.”

                So the pair grabbed their jackets and sped across the city to the hospital, along with the majority of the team.

 

                Alexander Ovechkin had both his arms wrapped around his young friend as the blood covered defensemen struggled to get down the hallway.

                “ _You can’t go down there Dima!”_ Alex muttered in his friends ear. “ _Let the doctor’s do their work. Fiona will be fine.”_

_“I need to be with her!” He struggled in his friends grip._

_“She’s in surgery… You need to just let the doctors work.”_

Dmitry finally stopped struggling and Alex carefully let him go. Tears still soaked the man’s face as he slowly sank to the floor. He put his head in his hands as he quietly cried on the floor. Alex went to reach for his shoulder but stopped and let him go. The man needed time to process. He had just seen the love of his life riddled with bullet holes and teetering on the edge of life and death. Only time would tell if she would pull through or not.

                So Alex went over to the chairs that lined the waiting room and found his own fiancé and the boys. Danny too, was covered in blood from trying to stop the bleeding from their friend as she laid dying in their doorway. Pulling Danny into a tight embrace, Alex kissed his forehead and just held on to him for a long moment.

                “How could this have happened?” Danny mumbled as he looked over at Dmitry. “How could this happen at our home?”

                Caelan got up from his seat in the corner and went over to where Dmitry was sitting on the floor in the hallway. He knelt down next to the hockey player and put a hand on his shoulder. Instantly Dmitry wrapped his arms around the teenager and buried his face in the young man’s shoulder. While his son tried to calm their friend, Danny continued to question how someone could come shoot a defenseless woman at their home on Christmas.

                Alex opened his mouth to say something but that’s when the doors down the hall opened and other members of the team started to filter into the waiting room. The other men were confused at first seeing all the hockey players there and well, but the sight of blood and Dmitry so distraught quickly made them realize who was hurt.

                “Oh no…” Backstrom mumbled.

                “Fiona.” Tom pulled at his hair.  “You can’t be serious. What happened?” He turned on Alex and demanded answers.

                “Someone shot her.” Alex sighed. “She answer door. They shoot.”

                “Why the hell would someone shoot Fiona?” Nate asked from behind Tom.

                “Do favor Tom?” Alex looked at the frustrated young player. “Go my house… and Dima’s. Get clean clothes, Danny and Dima.” He pulled his car keys from his pocket and handed them to the younger man.

                Tom took the keys as he looked at Danny’s bloody sleeves and Dmitry’s blood soaked shirt and jeans. “Yeah of course.” He nudged Nate on the arm. “Come on.”

                The two went back to Tom’s car and headed across the city to Dmitry’s house.

                “I can’t believe this.” Nate mused aloud as he ran a hand over his face. “Who would do such a thing?”

                Tom’s hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. His thoughts were the same as Nate’s but a little bit more violent. Fiona was his friend. Even after he had messed things up with her, when he was so confused about what he wanted in life and threw that at her, she still forgave him. They talked all the time and still hung out fairly often. To have this happen to someone he cared about…

                Nate’s hand gently landed on top of one of his and instantly Tom’s grip loosened as he looked over at the man in the seat next to him. “Hey… she’ll be okay.”

                “I hope so.” Tom sighed as he grabbed hold of Nate’s hand. He hadn’t held on to someone’s hand in years, hadn’t found comfort in someone in years. Having Nate there was turning out to be nice in more ways than one. “She is a really good friend.”

                “She is a big part of the team. She is a good friend to all of us.”

                Tom sighed and squeezed Nate's hand just a little tighter as he pulled into the Orlov driveway. He climbed out of the car and made his way inside, Nate right behind him. The winger didn’t even hesitate as he made his way through the home and up to the master bedroom.

                “Do you know where you’re going?” Nate asked from behind.

                “I crashed here for a few weeks a while ago.” Tom admitted. “I know my way around.” In the closet, Tom found a duffle bag before he went to the dresser. He grabbed a  few tee shirts off the top of the drawer and some jeans along with some clean underwear and socks. The man hesitated, thinking about grabbing something for Fiona but changed his mind. Going to the bathroom Tom grabbed a tooth brush off the counter and shoved it in the bag as well.

                “I thought we just wanted to get a change of clothes.”

                “I don’t think Dima will be leaving that hospital any time soon.” Tom zipped the bag shut with a sigh and then started towards the stairs.

                Nate grabbed his hand. “Tom wait.” He forced the other man to turn around and look at him. “She’s a fighter. She’s going to make it. Stay positive and everything will be okay.  Remember, this was supposed to be a god Christmas… that means she has to be okay.”

                Their lips met when Tom leaned down for a short moment. He gave the other a small smile. “Thanks… It’s nice to have an optimist around.”

                The pair made their way to the Ovechkin house but there were still cops milling about the place so there was no getting Danny a clean shirt. After returning to the hospital, the two young men returned to the surgical waiting room and found nearly the whole hockey team milling around, wringing their hands unsure of what to do.

                Dmitry was still sitting on the hallway floor, clinging to Caelan like he didn’t have anyone else left in the world so Tom handed the duffle bag to Alex. “The police are all over your house so we couldn’t get in. Sorry Danny.” He gave the man a meek smile.

                “It’s okay Willy.” Danny glanced over at the man clinging to his son. “I’ll be fine.”

                “Ovechkin!”

                Most of the room turned to look at the short bald man that was making his way through the room. Trotz. He was the new head coach this year. He was more in tune with the players and with what Alex was doing on and off the ice.

                “Coach.” Alex pulled himself away from Danny.

                “Alex, what the hell is going on here?”

                The big man rubbed his temples. “Someone shot Fiona.”

                Trotz coughed. “Does this have anything to do with the threats you have been getting?”

                Once again, the coach caught everyone’s attention. Alex looked away.

                “Alex? What is he talking about?”

                “I receive letter. Angry letter.” He said quietly.

                Trotz looked at Danny. “Alex has been receiving death threats for the last few months. It’s pretty common for the players to get fan mail of all kinds, good and bad, I’m sure you know. For the first few weeks we thought it was harmless but then they started to get a bit more involved. A bit more personal.”

                Danny frowned up at the captain. “And you didn’t mention this?”

                “It harmless.”

                He flung his arm in the direction of their friend in an emotional heap on the floor. “Clearly it wasn’t!” He nearly shouted. “Our friend was just shot. It could have been one of my boys. It could have been you!”

                Alex looked over at Dmitry and then at the doors that separated them from the sterile surgical area. “Wish it was me. Then Fiona not hurt.”

                Danny gave him a halfhearted punch. “Don’t say that. You don’t know what would have happened.

                The coach cleared his throat. “Listen up guys. Until we know if this was random or not, I don’t want anyone going out alone. You single guys, find a roommate for a while. If you're married, talk to your wives about this. If you feel comfortable with keeping them close, do it, if not, find another player and bunk up.” The coach met the eyes of everyone he could. “You need to watch each other’s backs.”

 

                After a few hours, some of the players left to go back to their families, there wasn’t much they could do after all. But the rest were piled into the waiting room chairs, half asleep as the time ticked by. Caelan finally managed to get Dmitry off the floor and into a chair. The defenseman’s face was red and swollen, he had cried so much he wasn’t sure he could actually cry any more.

                The man struggled to breath as the teenager sat there with him, trying to keep him calm. Alex came over to what would soon be his step son.

                “Caelan?”

                The teen looked up.

                “You dad and brothers go home. Clean house and see  police about things.”

                Caelan looked at Dmitry. “I think I’ll stay here.

                The man nodded and then went to kiss his fiancé farewell. After Danny and the boy’s left, Alex took a seat on the other side of Dmitry and looked the man over. He was still covered in blood, his shirt dry and stiff now. His tan skin was stained crimson, even his face had red stains from when he wiped at the endless from of tears.

                 Finally, another three hours later, a surgeon came out of the doors at the end of the hall. “Mr. Orlov?” He asked the crowd.

                Dmitry was on his feet in a second and hurried over to the man in the bloody scrubs. “Yes? Fiona… She…” More tears gathered in his eyes, fearing the worst.

                “Miss O’Dell has been moved to the intensive care unit.”

                There was a collective sigh of relief from behind them.

                “You are her fiancé correct?” The doctor asked.

                Dmitry nodded.

                “Please come with me.”

                Without a second thought, the Russian followed the doctor down another hall to the ICU where Fiona was lying in a bed hooked up to machines and wires. She had tubes down her throat and IV lines in both arms. Bandages were wrapped around her body, spots of blood still showing through them.

                Dmitry nearly fell into the chair at her bed side. His own hand was trembling as he reached out and gently took hold of hers. “Will she be okay?”

                “Mr. Orlov, your fiancé had a perforated liver, a collapsed lung, her intestine was torn open and we had to remove nearly half of it to be sure we had all the damaged tissue. Her clavicle and upper ribcage were hit, the bone splintering but no major organs were hit by that round.” The doctor sighed. “She has a very long recovery a head of her, if she recovers. Even after she gets out of the hospital she is going to need a lot of recuperation. But realistically you have to be prepared for the fact that she may not recover. Infection is still very likely at this point.”

                Dmitry merely nodded and waited for the man to leave before he looked back at the unconscious woman on the bed. “ _I’m so sorry Fiona. Please forgive me…I couldn’t protect you…”_


	2. Chapter 2

                Caelan was sitting in the corner of Fiona’s hospital room. He had joined the rotation of players that was taking shifts to keep an eye on her and Dmitry. Currently the Russian was out in the hallway discussing his fiancé’s relocation to a new room. She had been in the ICU for almost two week and had been on a steady improving rate the whole time.

                The phone in his pocket buzzed to life and the teenager pulled it out. A small smile graced his features as he put it up to his ear. ”Hey Sam.”

                “Caelan… how are you?”

                “Good… tired.”

                “You sound tired.”

                Caelan nodded and ran a hand over his face. “Yeah… sorry I haven’t been able to make it up to any of your games lately.”

                “Don’t apologize. The league is still reeling about what happened to Fiona. I couldn’t blame you for staying at the hospital if I wanted to.”

                The teenager sighed and ran a hand through his long dark hair. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to come and see you.”

                “Well, I have a few days off here soon…. Would you object to me coming down there?”

                “I…”

                “Still afraid of what your dad is going to say?”

                Caelan hung his head a bit. “Maybe? I don’t know. I know I shouldn’t be… but…”

                “We aren’t even dating Caelan. I was hoping to change that here soon but, I wanted you to be comfortable with it. You are fine when we are alone but any time I talk about you and me as an ‘us’ you get all weird on me.”

                “I’m sorry Sam… I don’t mean to be that way I just…” He froze when he saw something move across the room. “Sam I’m going to have to call you back.” Caelan shoved his phone in his pocket and slid off the chair. Walking to the edge of the bed his brown eyes got wide as he watched Fiona’s hand start to move. She was trying to lift up her arm.

                Then her eyes snapped open and she started to freak out. The fear was clear on her face as her bright eyes darted around the room. With tubes still down her throat she was struggling to breath on her own or let the machine do it for her. Her hand latched on to Caelan’s.

                “Fiona!” Caelan put his hand on her shoulder, trying to be gentle. “Calm down. You are in the hospital. Calm…down.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Dima! Get a doctor!”

                A doctor and a few nurses came rushing in, Dmitry close behind. The staff shoved Caelan away from the bed as they set to work on the now conscious woman. They instructed her on what to do as they yanked the tubed out of her throat. It left her coughing and wheezing and in visible pain as her injured body recoiled with every breath.

                Collapsing back into the bed, the doctors injected something into her IV and attached a few new monitors to her after hooking an oxygen line up and running it under her nose.

                When the doctor’s stepped away, Dmitry went to her side but the woman was out cold once more. At least now, she didn’t have the giant tube sticking out of her mouth and she was breathing on her own. “What happen?” Dmitry asked the doctor.

                “Well, she is healing. She can breathe on her own so she no longer needed the breathing tube and her body wanted it gone. Removing it isn’t the most pleasant thing though so we’ve sedated her.”

                “But she okay?”

                The doctor nodded. “For now.” The man scribbled some notes on the clipboard hanging on the door. “We still would like to move her out of the ICU since she is no longer in critical condition.”

                Caelan had to pull Dmitry back a bit so that the nurses could come in and move the bed and all the necessary equipment down to another wing in the hospital. The pair gathered up Dmitry’s belongings that were also scattered throughout the room and made their way after Fiona to her new room.

                This room was a lot less intimidating, that was for sure. Less machines, less noise, less nurses running around like crazy. Fiona’s bed was placed in the center of a private room, there was a soft light casting an orange glow across her face as Dmitry went over to her bed side.

                Caelan was about to say something when his phone buzzed once in his pocket. Reaching in his pocket he pulled it out and read the text message. “What the hell?”

                Dmitry looked over at him. “What wrong?”

                “I um… I got a strange message.” Caelan swallowed hard, a bit unsure of showing it to the man facing him. After a moment’s hesitation, he handed over the phone.

                Across the screen were the words ‘The woman was just the first.’ The number that it was sent from was simply listed as restricted.

                Dmitry’s eyes got wide and he looked up at the teenager. “What mean this?”

                He shrugged.

                “Call father. Tell Alex and Danny come. Need talk.”

                Caelan nodded and obeyed. By now Dmitry had heard of the threats Alex had been receiving. Whatever implications he had taken from that short sentence, he wasn’t sharing, at least… not yet.

 

                The hockey season had been trying to progress normally. Well, as normally as possible. There was a permanent cloud that hung over the capitals with the weight of the shooting looming over them. One of their star defensemen was missing and the bright smiling face of one of their biggest supporters was also gone. Without any kind of explanation as to why this happened…

                The team was taking a major hit in the statistics area, they were losing a hell of a lot more than they were winning. Now no one could seem to focus.

                “Hey Ovi!” Latta called to the captain from the corridor that led off ice and to the locker room.

                The captain looked up from the puck he had been playing around with.

                “Your phones been going off.”

                He skated off the practice rink and went into the locker room to check his phone leaving the others there on the rink. Tom skated over to Nate who had been running a few drills by himself. They hadn’t really had much time to talk since the night of the shooting. Michael came home and Nate decided to keep his distance to more than normal lengths ever since then.

                “Hey Nate.”

                The defensemen looked up after flicking a puck into the net across the rink. “Yeah?”

                “We should talk.”

                “About what?”

                “About Christmas.” Tom said it like it was obvious… it was, wasn’t it?

                “What about it?” Nate looked back to the pile of pucks near his skates. He grabbed one with his stick and started sliding it around.

                Tom scooped the puck away so he couldn’t toy with it. “Will you look at me.” He demanded. “You have been avoiding me like the plague ever since Lats got home. Why?”

                Nate looked away from him, his features starting to turn red. He opened his mouth to say something when Alex came scrambling out of the locker room.

                “Willy!” He shouted.

                The pair both looked over.

                “Need you do something.” He panted, clearly frantic. “Pick Carson and Cameron up from school. Now.”

                “Uh… sure.” Tom scratched his cheek. “Everything okay?”

                “Just do it!” He took off running towards the parking lot.

                Tom looked at Nate and shrugged before nudging him towards the locker room. “You are coming with me. This conversation is not over.”

                Schmidt sighed but nodded as they both went to strip down and change before heading to the local high school. The car ride was filled with the most awkward silence, until Tom finally snorted.

                “Well are you going to answer my question or not?”

                “What do you want me to say?”

                “What?” Tom looked at him confused. “Tell me why you kissed me and actually made me feel like I wasn’t confused for the first time in my life and then suddenly… suddenly you just treat me like I don’t even exist. I get it, we aren’t together or anything but you could at least have the decency to tell me what the hell I did to make you suddenly not want to be near me.”

                “Tom.” Nate rubbed his temples. “It is nothing like that.”

                “Then what the hell is it?”

                “I don’t want to get in between you and Mike!” Nate finally shouted at him, his normally calm and happy features red and downcast.

                Tom pulled the car over and looked at him. “Excuse me?”

                “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how he looks at you. You two have lived with each other for years and even before Ovechkin came out to the public… there were so many stories about you two.”

                “They were just stories!” Tom protested.

                “Well the way he looks at you sure as hell isn’t!” Nate looked at him. “He was here long before I ever was and you two are a lot closer than we are… I don’t… Even if I like you Tom, which I do, I don’t want to stop you from being with your best friend if that’s an option for you.”

                Tom just blinked. “I don’t…. I don’t understand.”

                “Latta likes you Tom. If you show interest in him he’s going to jump all over you…. You guys are close and I don’t want to get in the way of that, even if I do like you. I know this whole thing is kind of new to you so I didn’t want to make it harder on you by confusing you more.” Nate looked away.

                “What’s making it harder is you suddenly acting like you don’t want anything to do with me.” Tom mumbled before he took off driving to the school again. “Look, I’ve never noticed if Mike has had a thing for me or not. Honestly I don’t care. He’s my best friend and that’s that. He’s not that one that I catch myself staring at when he changes in the locker room… or the one that I wanted to undress and put my hands all over… or the one that I kissed.” He looked over at him, heat darkening his cheeks. “That’s all you.”

                The car came to a stop in front of the high school and the two athletes climbed out giving each other a glance before heading inside to ask the office to retrieve the boys.

 

                At the hospital Caelan was scratching his head as he watched Dmitry pace the floor by Fiona’s bed. Normally the man spent his time sitting at her side, muttering in Russian to the woman that couldn’t hear him. But no, not after he read that text message.

                “Where Alex?” He demanded of the boy.

                Caelan held up his hands. “I don’t know. I called Dad… he said they’d be here as soon as they could. Alex was at practice so it might take them a little bit longer than normal to get here.”

                The hockey player grumbled but said nothing else.

                The teenager frowned and grabbed the television remote off the bed side table. Now out of the ICU the room had a small TV up on the wall. Clicking it on and turning the volume down, Caelan started to flip through the channels. His finger stopped when a new broadcast displayed a bomb threat at the Ballston Common mall, same place the team had practice. “So much for practice.” He mumbled.

                Dmitry looked up at the television. “ _Shit… not here…_ ”

                The door to Fiona’s room slowly opened and Danny walked in followed closely by Alexander. The two men breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Fiona surrounded by less machines, but Alex’s face quickly darkened at seeing his friend still so upset.

                Danny didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he was ignoring it. “I’m glad to see Fiona is doing better. Has she woken up yet?”

                “Just for a few minutes. Kind of freaked out with the tube down her throat.” Caelan explained as Dmitry grabbed Alex by the arm and pulled him over to the corner of the room.

                “ _Have you gotten any strange messages lately?”_

_“Nothing besides the normal ones. Why?”_

Dmitry looked at Caelan. “Phone please.” He held out his hand. Once he had the phone he showed Alex the text. “ _Is this from who I think it is?”_

_“No… They haven’t bothered us in years.”_ Alex shut the phone off. “ _It can’t be them.”_

_“Who the hell else would come shoot up your home and nearly kill my fiancé?”_

Danny and Caelan looked at one another and then at the two men yelling at one another in Russian. “Dad… should we do something?”

                “Um… Maybe we should let them sort this out first. Then I’ll interrupt them.” Danny finally decided.

                _“I started playing hockey with their approval. They liked having a big named Russian in the States. Then when the motherland started backing me they backed off.”_

_“But the motherland isn’t backing you anymore Sasha!”_ Dmitry yelled. “Not after you came out. _What if this is them coming after you because of that… That text… it’s threatening more people are going to get hurt in the process. There was just a bomb threat at the practice rink for god’s sake!”_

_“What do you want me to do Dima? Go let them kill me?”_ Alex snorted, frustrated.

                _“Of course not. You got me into hockey to get me away from them when they were trying to recruit me and for that I will always be grateful. You are my closest friend.  But we need to do something before more people get caught in the crossfire.”_

_“I left that life behind a long time ago Dima. So did you.”_

_“I’ll bring it back if it means keeping the woman I love alive.”_

Alex looked over at Danny and Caelan, standing there so confused. The man hung his head a moment before he looked back at Dmitry. He’d do anything for the people he loved. _“So be it. We will fight the Brotherhood.”_

“Alex?”

                Danny’s voice snapped the two Russian’s from their conversation.

                “Do you care to fill us in?” He asked as he pushed his long hair back out of his face.

                Alex looked at Dmitry and then back to the man he loved. He crossed the room and took Danny by the hand. “You know I tell you my past not all happy yes?”

                “Yeah… what’s that have to do with anything?”

                Alex hung his head as his thumb gently toyed with the ring he had placed on his lover’s hand. “It come back now. Long time ago, men find me… want me join group. Criminals. I already rising hockey star. They… ‘support’ endeavors with bad money. Until Russia support me and I become famous. Dima and I agree… when I make announcement… about us… Russia support now gone. Brotherhood now coming back for me. This time, not in good way.”  

                Danny pulled his hands away from Alex. “Brotherhood? You’re talking about the Solntsevskaya Brotherhood? As in the Russian Mob?! You were part of the Russian Mafia?!”

                Alex shook his head violently. “No! Not ever my choice. They want promote big name Russian in sports. Why I not know… I happen to be that person. But when government support me, they back off. I do everything to stay away from Brotherhood. Even get Dima out of them.”

                Danny looked back and forth between the two Russians a form of mild shock on his face. “So the Russian mob is after you? They are the ones that shot Fiona?”

                Alex nodded. “Best guess.”

                “So what do we do now then?”

                Dmitry looked up from Fiona’s face to where Danny and the others stood. “We stop them.”


End file.
